Hong Kong legal salaries have risen across the board, and quite substantially, according to the latest Robert Walters salary survey for Hong Kong. The starting salary for a number of categories on both sides of the legal industry has gone over HK$1m, an average increase of around HK$150-200k, and some as high as HK$350. One of the largest increases was seen among newly qualified in-house Counsel for the financial services sector, in line with increases for those with up to 8 years PQE in other categories. The base salary for this group jumped from HK$550k to HK$800k and some in this category can expect a salary of over HK$1m. In-house counsel working in the ‘commerce and industry’ sector received the same as in 2010, and similar to those in financial services last year, anything from HK$550k to HK$750k. Private practice salaries for US firms were higher than those from international firms for mid-level and junior candidates and starting at over HK$1m.

The reasons offered to account for the rises were record numbers of IPO listings as Hong Kong remains a primary listing destination and activity from investment and commercial banks in China, along with a number of projects in the energy and resources sector from China and Australia conducted from Hong Kong. There was also a rise in litigation and demand for employment lawyers. This  has meant that a number of institutions have been interested in expanding their legal teams, and willing to offer sign-on bonuses or a higher salary in order to secure the right candidate.

In addition, a number of firms have recruited candidates for non fee-earning roles including professional support lawyers and knowledge and learning experts. The report said this is an encouraging sign for the local industry. Local experience and Chinese language capabilities are still a boon to those lawyers wanting to get ahead in the competitive legal financial services industry. In particular, demand was highest for those with experience in equity and credit derivatives, DCM/ECM, funds, wealth management, corporate IPO and employment.

The full salary figure results are listed in the table below: